HEEEEELP! Please - feeding problems

[feelingbitbetter]

DS has become a nightmare over the last week or so. He has gone from being s super guzzler of his milk to not drinking moer than 100ml at a time.
He has also started posturing/wriggling and crying during his feed, was every now and again, but now it's nearly every time.
He twists himself away from the bottle, like it's battery acid or something, cries, then tries to pull it back coz he's hungry, drinks perhaps 2 mouthfulls then starts again.
He is arching his back, pushing his head back and pushing really hard with his feet (reflux?????)
He has just had about 100mls of his feed in 40mins (used to be able to polish the lot off in 10 mins) before giving up, crying in my arms. I've put him on his playmat to type this and again he cried and was pushing with his feet to try and turn over. I've propped him up on his side a bit and elevated his had which has provided a bit of relief as he has nodded off. He still has 100ml to go and his meds are in this feed so I need to get it down him. He will take it all eventually but it's becoming such a struggle.
Sometimes, it goes like a dream. generally, his night feeds are much easier.
Any advice pleeeeaaase?
I hate seeing him like this. He really does seem to be in pain.Could it be a problem with his milk? We had a problem with the powdered stuff early on so we switched to the ready made (costs a bleedin' fortune) which he has been fine with, until now.
Could it be the volume?
I should add that he had started to vomit a bit (not much - little mouthful or so) after feeds and sometimes an hour or 2 later? He hardly ever brought any back up before, only the last week or so.
All help gratefully received. Can't get appointment with GP today and I suspect they will be reluctant to do anything anyway

Just finished his 12.30 feed now (phew) so meds in him at least.
He is kicking away quite happily on his playmat now Grrr! You wouldn't believe there was anything wrong with him at all.
Waiting for GP to call me too. GP just called, going in 3.40.
Any advice/opinions in the meantime, still very gratefully received xx

My DS2(5 months)(NT) sometimes does this when I know he is hungry has two mouthfulls and then starts screaming again and every time you take the milk near him he screams, half an hour later he happily drinks his milk. Not much help.

It could be reflux as the sucking might he giving him heartburn/ indigestion/ pain.

Hopefully the doctor gives you more answers, my post is crap just wanted you to know that I have read and thinking about you.

Just had a look at your photos, he is too cute.

Thank you Mitchell. Gabe's exactly the same - I know he's hungry. It's so frustrating!!!
I think he's cute too. Ta x

My ds did exactly the same at around the same age. Pushing back, arching his back and screaming.

I think it only lasted a couple of weeks or so.

I put it down to teething.

Does he show other signs of teething yet? Dribbling, chewing at toys?

I hope it gets better soon and your GP is helpful. Poor thing!

I have thought about teething but DS doesn't play with toys (tactile defensive but vastly improving ), so he would never pick one up without us forcing encouraging him, and he's not too sure where his midline is either, so he wouldn't be able to bring anything to his mouth to try and tell us . I can't feel anything happening on his gums but he does try to 'push' himself against his dummy when we put it in, so I suppose there could be some movement in there. He is more dribbly and actively trying to 'spit' dribble out of his mouth. Can't see any sign of thrush either.
I wish he could tell me. I've tried asking nicely, but to no avail . Perhaps he'll confide in the Dr soon xx

Sounds like reflux to me. Especially if he has started bringing milk back up.

Try keeping him slightly upright if that is possible after feeds. Both my dc's had this and spent quite a lot of time in their bouncy chairs so they could be upright.

Re: his meds. Could you only put a small quantity of milk in bottle at first with the meds. When that finished, add the rest of the milk to finish the feed.

Hope you get support from the gp.

Thanks DHT. We used to do that with his meds in the early days but honestly, he's normally such a little piglet that we haven't bothered for ages. Will go back to that. We always keep him upright. Now that he can support himself quite well, he won't let us lay him down, he's so headstrong! Just seen GP who is a bit of a dope, but nice. Had a good play with DS who was all smiles and laughter for him. He says its almost certainly reflux but has to check with his paed before prescribing for him. They are very reluctant to do anything there as DS is so complicated. Hopefully they will sort things out this afternoon, his paed is very good. Fingers crossed!

hope you get what you need there fbb. i remember when nathan had colic (how can 5months feel such a lifetime ago?) and we were so hesitant to give him anything like colief because he was already on anticonvulsants and we were worried to overload his little system, so you end up struggling with the innocent but annoying stuff like colic and reflux.

funny you calling gabe a little piglet, nathan is on 15lb at 9months, but that is just him. my dad tells me he used to threaten the hv to stay away from my mum as she harrassed her over my failure to pile on pounds, and I wish I weighed less now

that should read only 15lb

dd idd this. we never did get to the bottom of it unfortunately. She was better with solids so I think maybe she was choking a bit.

ds2 did this & it was reflux, also what is his teat size like, maybe try a slower or faster one.
DS2 was also better on his tummy after a feed, something about allowing his stomach to stretch out, they started positioning him on his tummy after a feed in SCBU.

DS2 didn't like it but it did mean he was in less pain & able to take his next feed a little easier.
He was also an hour a bottle boy, night time feeds seemed to last forever.

Like needmorecoffee says, DD was a bit like this, and seemed to sort herself out once she was on solids--in DD's case, at around 9 months. Despite never receiving a formal reflux diagnosis, she was put on omneprazole which didn't seem to make any difference. However, her symptoms definitely worsened when she was ill with a cough/cold/UTI, could DS be unwell?

Thanks everyone. Arabica yes, he has had a bit of a snivvle, about this time last week at its peak and he is still a bit mucousy. He also had his controlled fast (8hrs) last week, so maybe that upset him a bit too?
Funny you should mention choking NMC as he does sometimes make a gagging sound.
Prescription has been sorted and Dr gave us same Gaviscon sachets to go in his milk. He took his last feed 225ml in about 40mins and not sick at all (yet) . May be coincidence as he has had the occassional good feed over the last week. We shall see on his next one!
Anon we tend to keep him upright after a feed - he doesn't like lying down much at all these days. But we do put him on his tum when he has trapped wind and it helps, so I think it does help stretch things out a bit.
Madmouse though Gabe is seriously on the chubby side, he is also very long (93rd centile) so I think that accounts for some of his extra pounds . It's hard on the arms tho, he likes to stand up a lot so I'm going to look like a brickie soon!
Thank you everyone. Fingers crossed he'll be OK now xx

Does he gag when he is having his milk or at other times?

Does he get chest infections?

DHT - no just gags sometimes when he his having his milk. He sometimes coughs as a result, but its a dry cough. Not had a chest infection ever and Dr checked today and lungs were clear. Sounds a bit mucussy in the back of his throat since his cold.

Apart from his recent cold, does he sound gurgly after his feeds?

Not that I've noticed, to be honest. What are you thinking ?

That's good.

(Had my slt feeding hat on there.)

Was just double checking that there were no signs to suggest that he was having difficulty swallowing safely.

Regular chest infections, coughing when eating/drinking or sounding gurgly can all suggest this.

He sounds as though he is fine. You might find that the gaviscon helps the coughing if it is caused by the reflux.

My 2 were dreadful feeders, coughing, gagging projectile vomiting everywhere! Still got the carpet stains- yuck.

Hope the gaviscon works. If not, go back. There are plenty of other meds that can be tried. Mine just about coped on a double dose of gaviscon.

with dd2 it was all tone related - her tone was much higher during the day and so she was physically finding it much harder to control sucking etc and getting frustrated, screamy, and even tighter as the feed went on. (but we also had gagging and choking as her tone increased)
we had to resort to mostly night feeding for my sanity (her tone was much lower at night so we set the alarms and dream fed mostly) otherwise i spent most of my time in the doctors bawling i couldn't feed her, and them sending me back to the hospital.
it did all improve with more solid textures as they were slower for her to deal with (not that she ever learnt to chew lol).
gaviscon helped a little, but it was time and thick puree that solved it, in all honestly. it is truly the hardest thing, i send you all peaceful vibes and try really hard not to get too stressed. the night feeds were what kept me sane tbh, as i knew she was getting something.

That's really interesting Romy. I have always felt he is more peaceful at night, but never related it to his tone before. he has quite good muscle tone, but now you mention it, he was getting much higher during feeds. Not sure if its a cause or an effect, but something to think about.

I also hate going to GP for same reason, they are reluctant to do anything and want to send me back to the hospital. We spend enough time there FFS!
But, success yesterday. We got some Gaviscon powders which seem to help. His 10pm ish feed was a bit wriggly and took over an hour, but no crying . His feed through the night was easy and this morning he wolfed down 225ml in 15 mins. And best of all - no vomit . I hope we've turned a bit of a corner for now - we still have solids to look forward to!

We got a lot of help from DD's SALT, who is a feeding/swallowing specialist. The dietitian was good too--don't know if you have either of these in your entourage, but it might be worth asking for a referral, especially if DS has hypotonia and the feeding problems seem to be ongoing.

Not yet Arabica but after our 1st appointment with the community paed in Sept, lots of referrals were made on a just in case basis, so we are in the system. I love DS's paed! One of those refs was to the 'feeding team' as DS has lots of involuntary movements, which can (and have already) cause problems. Reflux was not a surprise to us - if you could see how his jerks twist his torso, you'd wonder how there isn't a bigger problem. So, feeding team are on board but not in use. I suspect they will be as DS gets older, and it's a comfort to know they are there as, like you say, this could be the start of an ongoing problem. Today, we are OK tho, so keeping fingers crossed.

Sounds as though you have a very pro-active paediatrician, feelingbitbetter.

If there are specific feeding problems in the future it will be easier to sort them out if you have access to a team of people alll working together, rather than individual professionals.

Hope the gaviscon continues to do the trick.

Fingers crossed

it was our feeding SLT that suggested both gaviscon and night-feeding. we had one from birth as dd2 was ng fed to start with and had other issues too - they are an absolute godsend and literally stopped me from going crackers.
hope the feeding continues to improve x